It's official; Lee will be releasing an "upside down" bullet sizing press.

[rototerrier]

This is all I had to do to make the LBF work on the LCT. Just needed to secure the driving rod to the plastic auto indexing collar. Nothing more. I've sized thousands with it, but this new APP is much better and clearly more reliable. You have to be careful to not go to fast with the LBF as it will sling the bullets from the fingers. No such issues with this need press. It'll handle any speed. I do wish there handle were a little longer. It could use a but more leverage. But I'm super pleased.

[Phlier]

Really appreciate the information, thanks a ton!

I was hoping that I'd see the APP a bit sooner, so I haven't been sizing any 9mm's lately, and have gotten really behind. Going to have to size a few thousand before the APP shows up. Having the LBF hooked up to the LCT will help a lot.

[rototerrier]

Really appreciate the information, thanks a ton!

I was hoping that I'd see the APP a bit sooner, so I haven't been sizing any 9mm's lately, and have gotten really behind. Going to have to size a few thousand before the APP shows up. Having the LBF hooked up to the LCT will help a lot.

I may do another casting video soon. I now run 3 molds at once and never stop casting. I've eliminated all down time and can drain that rcbs promelt with the quickness.

[Phlier]

I may do another casting video soon. I now run 3 molds at once and never stop casting. I've eliminated all down time and can drain that rcbs promelt with the quickness.

Very cool. I'll keep an eye out for it. I now find myself exclusively using the MP mold for all of my 9mm boolits, so I guess I better just go ahead and get another couple of them so I can cast non-stop, too. Since sizing time is going to be greatly reduced with the APP, it makes sense to increase hourly production rate while sitting at the alloy furnace.

[Dimner]

Just so I'm understanding the very preliminary results... the APP is great at rapidly sizing bullets, but no go when it comes to resizing brass? If so, I may cancel and go a different direction. Or do you think there could be work arounds?

[OS OK]

Julio has a work around for the shell holder not working on cases with extended primers when de-capping...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAevQrTlX2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhUzu6u2LUc

[rototerrier]

I decided to try it out so I'm not guessing, and boy did I make a mess of it. Against my better judgement, I decided to go ahead and force it and the base of the case sheered off. Soooo, now I have to deal with that. I knew better! Immediately after I shut this video off I decided to double fist it and force it. It did size and deprime, but then I have to pull like hell and that's when the base sheerd. The shell holder doesn't get hold of enough meat and couldn't handle it. Oh well. I'll let you guys decide, but I'm definitely not trying this again and now I have to go work on getting that stuck case out of my die. Fun Fun Fun

Here's my attempt at sizing 308

https://youtu.be/YMv1KMTGI2g



Also, to be fair, these are lake city and definitely require a bit more effort than other factory brass.

Update: Was able to place the die in the lee classic turret and finagle a normal shell holder onto it and it pulled out no problem. So I'm all good now and learned a little in the process

[Mollyboy]

https://youtu.be/YrKEK9__Nr0 This thing stupid fast

[Dimner]

Guys I really appreciate your working with this and showing us what it can and cannot do.

Roto.. thanks again for showing us it's limits. Do you think it could size a 223 case? Or even a pstraight necked pistol case?

[Dimner]

Another quick question....do you guys think it's gonna have enough leverage to swage primer crimps? Seems like that would take just as much ooomph as a resized bottle neck case.

[igolfat8]

I bought mine to primarily decap pistol brass. I Futzed with mine most of the afternoon today and it doesn’t feed 9mm cases reliably either. I do NOT have any primers sticking out like seen in the previous rifle brass videos. It picks up cases pretty consistently from the vertical tube but it won’t push them into the recap die reliably. it either tips them forward or backward with no consistency or it stops short of feeding them into the shell plate. I think the problem is in the spring and think it might need a stiffer spring or perhaps a solid rod. If I can’t figure this out soon it’s going back to Lee. The plastic automation has a LOT of flex and slop which isn’t helping matters either.

[igolfat8]

Another quick question....do you guys think it's gonna have enough leverage to swage primer crimps? Seems like that would take just as much ooomph as a resized bottle neck case.

Yes it should have plenty of leverage and oomph. I bolted my APP down to my bench and it’s pretty rigid. I think the flexing you guys are seeing is likely coming from the Lee quick mount plate.

[Mollyboy]

I bought mine to primarily decap pistol brass. I Futzed with mine most of the afternoon today and it doesn’t feed 9mm cases reliably either. I do NOT have any primers sticking out like seen in the previous rifle brass videos. It picks up cases pretty consistently from the vertical tube but it won’t push them into the recap die reliably. it either tips them forward or backward with no consistency or it stops short of feeding them into the shell plate. I think the problem is in the spring and think it might need a stiffer spring or perhaps a solid rod. If I can’t figure this out soon it’s going back to Lee. The plastic automation has a LOT of flex and slop which isn’t helping matters either.

I didn’t get my press yet but there is a YouTube video of a guy loading 308 and it didn’t feed. John lee made a comment that the guy should remove a detent on the shell holder adapter to let it rotate freely. Maybe that would help your feeding https://youtu.be/98sqcxOw9ww

[dansedgli]

https://youtu.be/YrKEK9__Nr0 This thing stupid fast

The same as my magma/star but i bet it is more durable.

[OS OK]

It says on the package of the shell holders that they are not intended for sizing.
Middle of the left side...

[Dimner]

It says on the package of the shell holders that they are not intended for sizing.
Middle of the left side...

That's what gets me grumpy me about this whole experience... no where on the lee precision page for the APP does it show that warning.

It says this:

But the APP is so much more. With the Automation kit, the APP becomes the world’s fastest single stage press. Now you can deprime cases, size cast bullets, swage primer pockets, etc. as fast as you can cycle the lever

And

We’ve made a Deluxe APP press kit, product 90933 just $110 includes the complete automation kit that allows automatic case preparation...


While not expressly saying it can size cases, it also doesn't say it is prohibited from sizing cases. It says the automation kit will make it the fastest single stage kit. And that it does case prep. Resizing is case prep, right?

I'm not really trying to be negative about the press. Just seems like they found out it cannot resize, but still have the marketing copy that leads a reasonable reloader to think it could resize through the automation setup.

I have 2 other presses, both lee, and I guess I'm sticking with those.

Sure I can resize (I'm assuming) with a normal shellholder, but I already have 2 presses that can do it that way.

[psychbiker]

https://youtu.be/YrKEK9__Nr0 This thing stupid fast

Just to verify...

This will work with the lee push through sizers I already have?

I've got about 10, some I've honed out for fat 9mm.

Anyone try swaging yet?

[tomme boy]

Yes it will work with the bullet sizers you have. One guy already has a vid of it. The swagers are not ready yet. So no one has one yet.

I got mine for bullet sizing and swaging 223. I am thinking on getting a bullet feeder from AmmoMike to feed it. They already have an APP and are working on a setup for it. I want to be able to use the feeder to feed the app and my ABLP. Just mount it between the two and use the spring tube to go back and forth.

[rototerrier]

That's what gets me grumpy me about this whole experience... no where on the lee precision page for the APP does it show that warning.

It says this:

But the APP is so much more. With the Automation kit, the APP becomes the world’s fastest single stage press. Now you can deprime cases, size cast bullets, swage primer pockets, etc. as fast as you can cycle the lever

And

We’ve made a Deluxe APP press kit, product 90933 just $110 includes the complete automation kit that allows automatic case preparation...


While not expressly saying it can size cases, it also doesn't say it is prohibited from sizing cases. It says the automation kit will make it the fastest single stage kit. And that it does case prep. Resizing is case prep, right?

I'm not really trying to be negative about the press. Just seems like they found out it cannot resize, but still have the marketing copy that leads a reasonable reloader to think it could resize through the automation setup.

I have 2 other presses, both lee, and I guess I'm sticking with those.

Sure I can resize (I'm assuming) with a normal shellholder, but I already have 2 presses that can do it that way.

LOL, I didn't even notice that on the case holder! Amazing what a little reading can do. I my haste I just threw it in and tried it. I guess we all know for certain what happens when you try using it for sizing a 308. They weren't lying about not using it for sizing.

I'll try not to sound too much like Sondland and presume too much here.

1) If you are going to size, you definitely must use a regular shell holder.
2) If you use a regular shell holder, it defeats the automated purpose of the press.
3) My experience has proven there isn't enough leverage for larger cases so you are limited to pistol calibers and probably 20cal. 223 shouldn't be much issue.
4) Other than feeding issues, it seems like "decapping" is fine. Anything that doesn't require force and leverage should be perfect on this press. For this reason, I won't be sizing any 45/70 bullets on it and probably not even anything that requires a gas check. Gas checking slows things down, so there's really no reason for using this press for that so it's obviously not a problem or disadvantage.

I'm going to presume this press was design for decapping and bullet sizing in mind. It's made for speed. Sizing is not necessarily a speedy operation and IMO doesn't fit the intended purpose of this press.

I could see a situation where you just use a decapper and process a crap ton of dirty brass to then throw in a wet tumber. Primer pocket swaging doesn't really need that much leverage either. I suspect it'll be just fine for that as well.

No tool can do it all, which is why I have a wall of presses. This fits perfectly into my routine of bullet sizing and I couldn't be more pleased with it.

I was thinking photos would have helped me out and might help you guys out as well for size comparison. When I mentioned in my previous posts about it's small stature, this might help explain that a little more. Pardon my mess. I've been playing around with so much, my bench looks like something exploded on it.

Not sure about the exact weight, but you can lift it with a pinky. Definitely can't lift that T7 with a pinky.

[Dimner]

Roto,

Thanks for the write up and the photos. They really do put the press size into perspective. If/when I get into Bullseye shooting aka NRA Precision Pistol, I may have to purchase one of these (I canceled my pre-order) as with that shooting format, I will need the speed of the bullet resize.

Thanks again.